Watching the Skies

February 11, 2010 broke the all-time snowfall record for any calendar day and any 24-hour period with 11.2 inches of snow, as of midnight. This surpasses the previous daily record of 1.4 inches on Feb 11, 1988. This also exceeds our 24-hour record of 7.5 inches on Feb 17, 1978 and Feb 25, 1924. Lastly this breaks our greatest calendar-day snowfall total of 7.8 inches from January 15, 1964 and January 14, 1917.

Thursday’s snowfall has brought our seasonal snowfall total to 14.4 inches, the 3rd snowiest winter on record for DFW. Had there been no other snowfall events this entire season, our winter would have still made the top five snowiest, wow! Below are snowfall totals reported as of 11:30pm 2/11/10.

The impacts from this snowfall will be felt quite heavily the morning of Friday February 12th with heavy snowfall accumulations on area roads, plus icing on roadways and bridges. Afternoon temperatures for Friday have been revised downward to 38 degrees. This means snow will melt significantly but not all of it will melt before re-freezing overnight through Saturday. Expect icing conditions Saturday morning as well. Saturday high temps will reach the 50s and any remaining snow will melt off.

Additionally, I walked around and snapped some great pictures with my camera this evening. I have attached the updated gallery below.

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Public Information Statement issued by the National Weather Service as of Midnight 2/12/10:

...Snow event one for the record books...

At midnight...dfw Airport had recorded 11.2 inches of snow today.
This breaks the previous daily record for February 11 of 1.4 inches
set in 1988. This also breaks the previous 24-hour record for
February...7.5 inches on February 17, 1978 and February 25, 1924.

This is the greatest calendar-day snowfall total on record for
Dallas/Fort Worth. The previous record was 7.8 inches on January 15,
1964 and January 14, 1917.

This brings the seasonal snowfall total to 14.4 inches...which is
the 3rd highest seasonal total on record for Dallas/Fort Worth. This
is the snowiest winter in 32 seasons (since 1977-1978).

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Dallas/Fort Worth - snowiest seasons

   1   17.6   1977-78
   2   15.3   1963-64
   3   14.4   2009-10*
   4   13.5   1923-24
   5   10.4   1976-77
   6    9.5   1909-10
   7    9.2   1916-17
   8    8.8   1947-48
   9    8.1   1937-38
  10    7.3   1965-66
        7.3   1941-42

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Dallas/Fort Worth - most snow in February

   1   13.5   1978
   2   11.2   2010*
   3    7.5   1924

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Dallas/Fort Worth - greatest 24-hour snowfall totals

   1   12.1   January 15-16, 1964
   2   11.2   February 12, 2010*
   3    8.2   January 14-15, 1917
   4    7.5   February 17, 1978
        7.5   February 25, 1924
   6    6.0   March 13, 1924
   7    5.5   December 9, 1898
   8    5.0   November 22, 1937
        5.0   January 5, 1910
  10    4.7   November 13, 1976

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The latest from the National Weather Service, snowfall today now shatters the previous record at DFW Airport. A whopping 7.9 inches 11.2 inches of snow has fallen today 2/11/10, surpassing the previous single calendar day record of 7.8 inches set on 1/15/1964 and 1/14/1917.  The real kicker, snowfall is set to continue for a few more hours! This makes February 11th the snowiest calendar day, and snowiest 24 hour period in the history of DFW Airport. This winter season is now the 4th 3rd snowiest winter on record at 11.1 14.4 inches total. Details below…

...Snow event one for the record books...

At 7 PM...dfw Airport had recorded 7.9 inches of snow today. This
breaks the previous daily record for February 11 of 1.4 inches set
in 1988. This also breaks the previous 24-hour record for
February...7.5 inches on February 17, 1978 and February 25, 1924.

This is the greatest calendar-day snowfall total on record for
Dallas/Fort Worth. The previous record was 7.8 inches on January 15,
1964 and January 14, 1917.

This brings the seasonal snowfall total to 11.1 inches...which is
the 4th highest seasonal total on record for Dallas/Fort Worth. This
is the snowiest winter in 32 seasons (since 1977-1978).

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Dallas/Fort Worth - snowiest seasons

   1   17.6   1977-78
   2   15.3   1963-64
   3   13.5   1923-24
   4   11.1   2009-10*
   5   10.4   1976-77
   6    9.5   1909-10
   7    9.2   1916-17
   8    8.8   1947-48
   9    8.1   1937-38
  10    7.3   1965-66
        7.3   1941-42

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Dallas/Fort Worth - most snow in February

   1   13.5   1978
   2    7.9   2010*
   3    7.5   1924

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Dallas/Fort Worth - greatest 24-hour snowfall totals

   1   12.1   January 15-16, 1964
   2    8.2   January 14-15, 1917
   3    7.9   February 11, 2010*
   4    7.5   February 17, 1978
        7.5   February 25, 1924
   6    6.0   March 13, 1924
   7    5.5   December 9, 1898
   8    5.0   November 22, 1937
        5.0   January 5, 1910
  10    4.7   November 13, 1976

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Hey folks, a significant arctic cold air blast will impact the area beginning tonight around midnight and last through Sunday at least. Air temperatures will fall as low as 11 to 14 degrees around the metroplex, with wind chills below zero! Freezing rain is also possible Wednesday night thru very early Thursday morning.

The arctic cold front originating from as far away as Siberia will plunge through the area late tonight around midnight, sending winds of 10-15mph and temperatures dropping to 22 degrees by sunrise. Freezing rain is possible in a narrow window overnight from maybe midnight to 3am? This could make for some patchy areas of ice on the roadways for Thursday. Temps will struggle to increase during the day, never exceeding 27 degrees. Overnight clear skies will promote strong radiational cooling and temperatures will drop as low as around 11 degrees to the north, 14 in and just south of the metroplex. Winds at this time will create very hazardous wind chill values below zero!

This cold air will persist on Friday as well, with highs once again not exceeding the freezing mark.Temperatures on Saturday will struggle to reach freezing, and very well could remain below freezing for the entire day on Saturday as well. Sunday will begin to warm up a bit with lows around 27, highs of 45.

Bundle up everyone, this is likely to be the coldest weather in the metroplex since January 2005!

Hey folks… we may see another bout of snowfall to most of north Texas on Tuesday during the day. Current forecasts place us right around within a few degrees of freezing at the start of the event, and just below through the evening and night. This means for around an hour or so Tuesday, the precipitation may fall as rain then transition to snow. Since the ground has been chilled significantly from the Christmas Eve snowfall, there is a chance this precipitation could freeze to open surfaces quicker than it did last week. This means another round of dangerous ice wide spread throughout the area.

Extended forecasts beyond Thursday get a little more difficult. Northern areas may see some light snow flurries on Thursday. Things should dry out and warm up slightly beyond Thursday, for the weekend. Extended forecasts have continuously warned about an extremely frigid air mass that will descend from Siberia, across northern Canada and impact the United States. There are significant discrepancies in this forecast now, but the weather service is concerned about this possibility. If this unfolds as forecast now, we may be looking at significant cold weather, record setting even. Timing on this would likely be maybe 9-10 days out, or sometime after January 5.

I’ll send updates as needed.

Fairly heavy snowfall across parts of north Texas, with at least half of north Texas receiving some type of snowfall. Heaviest accumulations in the region occurred in northwest Texas near Bowie and Jacksboro with 9 inches of snowfall! Area roads have been completely shut down for most of the night.

Road conditions will remain trecherous through the first half of Christmas day as accumulated ice slowly melts off. However drier weather and temperatures rising just above freezing should help most of the ice and snow to melt away. There will still be some icy patches on the roads overnight tonight however.

Temps through the weekend will remain cool, dropping below freezing every night, rising to the low to mid 40s during the day.

The next storm system is still expected to move through this upcoming Tuesday, and may bring chances of more winter precipitation. A rain/snow mix may occur north of I-20, while a rain/sleet mix may occur south of I-20. This forecast is subject to large changes however, with several days out till this next event, there is some uncertainty.

Update: 5:56pm – Visiblele satellite shows the large extent of snowfall coverage across the region. A friend also advised me while traveling along I-35 north twards Oklahoma City, that at least 142 cars were stranded along the road!

DFW Airport reported 3.0 inches of snowfall As of 6:29pm 12/24/09, DFW Airport recorded 2.3 inches of snowfall, far exceeding the previous record for this date of a trace. Snowfall is starting to end across the metroplex and should be over by 9 to 10pm in all areas. Temperatures are forecast to drop to the low 20s across the region so any ice or snow accumulations in place now, will persist all night until Christmas day. Temps on Christmas day will rise above freezing in the afternoon, allowing the snow/ice to mostly melt off.

Road conditions around the region are in horrible shape. Numerous roads to our north and west have been closed including I-35 through most of Oklahoma. In fact, all interstates in the Oklahoma City metro area have been shut down for most of the afternoon.

I will send more complete updates after the snowfall ends and additional weather reports come in… Below is most recent daily climate report from DFW Airport:

CLIMATE REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE FORT WORTH TX
629 PM CST THU DEC 24 2009

...................................

...THE DALLAS FORT WORTH CLIMATE SUMMARY FOR DECEMBER 24 2009...
VALID TODAY AS OF 600 PM LOCAL TIME.

CLIMATE NORMAL PERIOD 1971 TO 2000
CLIMATE RECORD PERIOD 1898 TO 2009

WEATHER ITEM   OBSERVED TIME   RECORD YEAR NORMAL DEPARTURE LAST
                VALUE   (LST)  VALUE       VALUE  FROM      YEAR
                                                  NORMAL
..................................................................
TEMPERATURE (F)
 TODAY
  MAXIMUM         53    113 AM  88    1955  55     -2       57
  MINIMUM         29    626 PM   7    1983  35     -6       39
  AVERAGE         41

PRECIPITATION (IN)
  TODAY            0.42          1.41 1975   0.08   0.34     0.00
  MONTH TO DATE    1.49                      2.04  -0.55     0.12
  SINCE DEC 1      1.49                      2.04  -0.55     0.12
  SINCE JAN 1     40.53                     34.20   6.33    26.95

SNOWFALL (IN)
  TODAY            2.3 R         T    2002   0.0    2.3      0.0
                                      1975
                                      1943
  MONTH TO DATE    2.3                       T      2.3       T
  SINCE DEC 1      2.3                       T      2.3       T
  SINCE JUL 1      2.3                       0.2    2.1       T
  SNOW DEPTH       0

..................................................................

WIND (MPH)
  HIGHEST WIND SPEED    38   HIGHEST WIND DIRECTION    NW (310)
  HIGHEST GUST SPEED    46   HIGHEST GUST DIRECTION    NW (300)
  AVERAGE WIND SPEED    20.4

..........................................................

THE DALLAS FORT WORTH CLIMATE NORMALS FOR TOMORROW
                         NORMAL    RECORD    YEAR
 MAXIMUM TEMPERATURE (F)   55        78      1934
                                             1922
 MINIMUM TEMPERATURE (F)   35         6      1983

SUNRISE AND SUNSET
DECEMBER 24 2009......SUNRISE   728 AM CST   SUNSET   527 PM CST
DECEMBER 25 2009......SUNRISE   729 AM CST   SUNSET   528 PM CST

-  INDICATES NEGATIVE NUMBERS.
R  INDICATES RECORD WAS SET OR TIED.
MM INDICATES DATA IS MISSING.
T  INDICATES TRACE AMOUNT.

Update as of 7:49pm: DFW Airport now reports 3.0 inches of snowfall so far today:

...Record daily maximum snowfall set at Dallas/Fort Worth...

A record snowfall of 3.0 inches was set at dfw Airport today. This
is the first measurable snowfall on record for Christmas eve. Trace
snowfall amounts were previously recorded on December 24 in 1924...
1926...1943...1975...and 2002.

Snowfall today is still on track, with around 1-2 inches forecast for Frisco and higher amounts possible north and west of our area.

Snowfall is expected to begin around 11am to noon, while surface air temps may still remain slightly above freezing.

Snowfall will likely persist for several hours until maybe sundown?

Surface air temps will drop around 2 or 3pm below freezing and remain below freezing through Christmas morning. This means that any snowfall that occurs may actually stick around for Christmas morning!

Roadways and travel may become treacherous later today through the overnight after air temperatures drop below freezing. This means bridges and overpasses will begin to accumulate ice and snow first. Again, this will likely begin to cause issues around 2pm today, so afternoon and evening travel will be impaired!

Hey Texans, looks like the big cooldown is finally here. Weather should remain quiet for the next 12-16 hours or so until a strong low pressure system pushes through north Texas. Since the low pressure will be passing through north Texas, this means we can expect variable weather conditions as the system moves through. Overall outlook calls for cold rain during the afternoon Tuesday, through Wednesday mid-day. There is a chance of a rain-snow mix falling in the western portions of north Texas. While surface air temperatures during this event may reach or hover close to freezing, soil and other vegetation temperatures are forecast to remain above freezing so accumulation should be minimal. Freezing rain is not expected with this event at this time. Up to around 1 inch of precipitation is forecast for our area. Make sure you have your heavy winter jackets out for Wednesday as we can expect rain, high temps around 45 and winds gusting to 30mph.

Temperatures after the low pressure moves through will plummet with a high of 45, low of 27 on Thursday. At this time a freeze is expected for nearly all of north Texas on Thursday. Temperatures will warm up slightly, but still remain cold as we progress into the weekend. The next storm system might impact us on Sunday, and I will keep an eye on this.

In summary, expect below freezing temperatures to occur at night both Wednesday and Thursday mornings. Rain will occur from Tuesday afternoon through Wednesday mid-day, with a rain/snow mix possible on Wednesday morning thru mid-day. Wind chills on Wednesday will be very low, so dress accordingly.

I will send out short term updates as needed once this approaches our area.

A Freeze Warning has been issued overnight from 4am to 9am Wednesday. Lows are forecast to drop to 29-30 degrees across the western and northwestern parts of the region. A Freeze Warning is issued when the first freeze of the season is expected to occur, which can kill off more vulnerable plant life. The Freeze Warning is issued for several counties around the area including Denton, but not Collin, Tarrant, or Dallas counties. Temperatures in Frisco will reach around 35 degrees, whereas in Dallas and Fort Worth, temps will stay in the upper 30s to low 40s.

…Freeze warning in effect from 4 am to 9 am CST Wednesday…

The National Weather Service in Fort Worth has issued a freeze
warning…which is in effect from 4 am to 9 am CST Wednesday.

Temperatures tonight and early Wednesday morning will drop to near
freezing…mainly along and to the west of a line from
Gainesville…to Denton…to Azle…to Meridian. The coldest
temperatures will occur in valleys and other sheltered locations.
While some locations such as hilltops will not reach
freezing…a widespread frost is expected across the area. Frost
can be just as damaging as a freeze to tender vegetation.

Precautionary/preparedness actions…

A freeze warning means that the seasons first episode of sub-
freezing temperatures are likely to occur. These conditions will
kill sensitive plants and residents are advised to protect any
tender vegetation.

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